ARROW: Stephen Amell on the Show Casting Manu Bennett as Deathstroke

Deathstroke’s presence has been felt on ARROW since the very beginning of the series (we got a brief glimpse of his mask in the pilot before he was properly introduced in the fifth episode of the show), but with SPARTACUS’ Manu Bennett now taking over the role, fans should expect to see a more of the character coming up.

“Well, it’s nice to know who’s playing Deathstroke, but it’s not necessarily what you think,” ARROW star Stephen Amell (Oliver/Arrow) teased to reporters on set last week. “I am really excited because I read when Slade was revealed and they do a good job of this in the script sometimes, they put in dummy names [in place of the actual character names to avoid spoilers], and I read the name and I go, ‘Oh, that’s not the name.’ And I texted [executive producer] Marc Guggenheim, ‘Who is that? What’s that real name? It’s Slade Wilson, isn’t it?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, yeah.’ And they’ve done a good job. They told me this idea they had maybe sometime around episode 3. So for it to come to fruition now, I’m glad we had plans in the early part of the season and we’re sticking to those plans.”

As for Amell, he actually has his own history with Bennett dating back to his pre-ARROW acting days.

“I auditioned with Manu Bennett when I was testing for SPARTACUS [for the role that ultimately went to Liam McIntyre],” Amell explained. “We shot a scene he had originally shot with [original SPARTACUS star] Andy Whitfield in season 1, and it’s going to be intense the stuff that we do [in ARROW]…we do mix it up, but he’s meeting me on the island and I’m far less capable. So mixing it up might be a nice way to put it. More like beating down.”